


Brothers are either the best or the worst

by greeny1710



Series: The Chaotic Trio verse [7]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Angst, Anxiety, Bullying, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, LIKE A LOT OF ANGST, M/M, Max and Charles are back at it again being little shit twins, Max is a soft sad boy who needs a hug, Misunderstandings, Panic Attacks, Sibling Rivalry, Verbal Abuse, but like it's an angsty and sad and then happy time, lots of swearing too, there is a happy ending though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22157806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeny1710/pseuds/greeny1710
Summary: Daniel's nice, he really is.Daniel's friends, they're not so nice.And then a misunderstanding with Charles and Max thinks it's all gone. Just like that.(Theres a couple explicit panic attacks, so just be aware of that if you didn’t see it in the tags)
Relationships: Alexander Albon/George Russell, Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, Kimi Räikkönen/Sebastian Vettel
Series: The Chaotic Trio verse [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594924
Comments: 53
Kudos: 242





	Brothers are either the best or the worst

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so basically self-indulgent Max being incredibly sad for like 3/4 of a fic and then having a happier ending because that seems like all I'm capable of at the minute lol
> 
> I really had plans that the first fic of 2020 would be cute and happy and fluffy but nah
> 
> This was also sparked by a kinda massive breakdown (see my 'writing crisis' Tumblr post for more detail lol) I had over not filling requests bc all I could think about was this fic and so I just had to write it and now its like a 14k monster and it's wild but I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> **Explicit Panic Attacks mentioned so please be aware if that's something that can be hard for you to read <3**

“Please tell me you’re at least going to try and talk to him today,” Charles asked, throwing his backpack at his feet as he wrestled the seatbelt around his body.

Max looked down at his hands and shrugged, twisting them around.

“Maybe, it’s just hard,” Max replied quietly.

“He keeps asking me where you run off to, you just need to actually make an effort, you know?”

Max nodded slightly but didn’t say anything else. It was the Thursday after his date with Daniel, and Max had successfully avoided being caught by Daniel at school for anything longer than three seconds. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to Daniel, on the contrary they seemed to be texting all the time. Daniel would send him silly messages and memes, and Max would smile and blush at every single one. Seeing Daniel’s name pop up on his phone would momentarily stop Max’s heart beating. Daniel wanted to be with him, at least Max was pretty sure he did anyway. He was everything that Max could’ve ever asked for and he completely understood why every single person in the school wanted to date Daniel. Yet, somehow, Max had been the one that got him. He was so kind and loving, and patient, and Max really didn’t know why Daniel picked him but he did. And whenever they were at school, far away from each other, Daniel would somehow catch Max’s eyes and offer him that blinding smile that he absolutely loved. 

But it was those moments that they passed in the corridor between lessons that Max had issues. Daniel would catch his wrist and press a quick kiss to Max’s cheek, causing a blush to erupt and Max to duck his head, and then watched Daniel quickly run off again before he could get caught by teachers or risk being late to lessons. And every single time, Daniel’s mates would stand and stare, or look at each other and laugh behind their hands. And they’d whisper to each other as they left, mindful that Daniel didn’t hear, throwing looks over their shoulders as Max would scuttle away, either hiding in a corner of the library or in the toilets, throwing himself into a cubicle and waiting for his panicked heart to slow down. Valtteri had noticed Max running off and had come looking for him for more than once, pulling his younger brother into a hug and holding him tight to calm his racing anxiety. 

But as Max’s luck would have it, running away from Daniel was bound to backfire at some point. He was just heading towards the library, wanting to hide away from all the noise. The amount of screaming and shouting in the cafeteria was pounding into Max’s ears and he could feel his heart rate picking up. It was too loud, too many people and Max could feel himself drowning in the amount of overstimulation. 

Max jumped when he felt fingers wrap around his wrist, spinning him around. He blinked, once, twice, three times and then smiled shyly when Daniel grinned at him, diving forward and kissing his cheek. 

“Hey, want to hang out tonight?” Daniel asked, “I’ve got practice until 5 but we can hang out after?”

“I have homework to do, but you can come over after your practice if you want?” Max tentatively asked, blush running high on his cheeks as he looked down and watched the way Daniel ran his fingers across Max’s hand. 

“Sounds good my boy, I’ll text you later.”

Max nodded and bit his lip. 

“Okay, okay that sounds good. Can I, can I go? I have to go, like go and you know, go do stuff.” He stumbled. 

Daniel abruptly dropped his hand and stepped back, his grin dropping.

“Yeah of course, I’ll see you later, Maxy.”

Max nodded shakily and walked off, never once looking back at Daniel. He could feel the stares on the back of his head and felt tears pool in the corner of his eyes when he heard one of them make a comment.

“Dunno why you’re going after that freak, he’s so weird, Charles would be so much fucking better, everyone wants to fuck him instead of the nerd.”

Max didn’t stick around to hear Daniel’s response, the words too busy echoing around his head. His heart beat was pounding in his ears and his cheeks flushed an even harder red. His chest was starting to ache with the strength of his breaths, fighting to keep them under control and not let the erratic breaths take over. Max bit his lip harder when he felt it tremble, threatening to let the tears fall. 

One dropped.

Followed by another.

Max quickly dived into the toilets and sunk to the floor. The bang of the door behind him never even registered. It was too loud in his head. The toilets in the language corridor were always deserted, no one ever bothering to make the trek to get to them unless they were passing and so Max knew he was safe. 

But he wasn’t.

His chest was hurting and his head was pounding and his hands were shaking. 

The helpless sobs tore through his throat as the words echoed darkly. 

_freak_

_weirdo_

_nerd_

_worthless_

_loner_

_boring_

_invisible_

_pointless_

Every bad thing that anyone had ever said, it was all there echoing. Tearing through his mind and reminding him that Max wasn’t anything. He was nothing. He was the awkward, overlooked middle child. He wasn’t athletic like Valtteri who could just look at a sport and be amazing at it. He wasn’t sociable and pretty like Charles, who commandeered friends and always had something to go and do. He was just boring, nerdy Max. The one who knew people but didn’t really have any friends, the one people put up with just because he was connected to his brothers. He was invisible until Daniel noticed him.

Black spots were forming in Max’s vision as his breaths got shallower and harder to take in. All the air had vanished. He was in a vacuum, stuck in darkness and his life being sucked away from him. There was so much pain in his body he didn’t even know where it had started from. 

He fumbled his phone out of his pocket and couldn’t even see the screen properly with how waterlogged his eyes were.

help

Max dropped his phone beside him and pulled his knees to his chest, dropping his arms onto them and wrapping his arms over his head. Max pressed his palms to his ears and screwed his eyes shut. 

He couldn’t tell you how long he sat there, convinced he was dying, terrified that he was going to be found dead, alone. Like always. He was always alone. 

A gentle touch to his ankle had Max kick out. 

“Cmon Max, it’s alright, I’m here, it’s alright, you’re not alone,” the voice came through, carding their fingers through his hair and gently prising his head up off his arms. 

“Charles?” Max sobbed as his twin comfortingly wiped the tears away, pulling his hand to rest against his chest. 

“Yeah, Maxy, it’s me. You’re alright, I’ve got you. Just focus on my breathing okay?”

“I’m dying,” he sobbed, throwing his head back to smack against the tiled wall. 

“No you’re not, it feels like it but you’re not. You’re okay because I’m here. You just need to focus on my breathing and we’ll have you sorted in no time brother.”

“I am, I’m going to die Charles,” he wailed, looking forlornly at Charles through hooded eyes, “I hate this.”

“Yeah I hate this too, I wish I could make it go away.” Charles shuffled up onto his knees and hugged Max tightly, rocking him slowly, “But you focus on my breathing okay, we’re going to be alright. It’s just you and me.”

Max clutched tightly onto Charles’s shirt, fisting it in his grip and resting his hand over Charles’s beating heart. Focusing on Charles. Breathing in that ridiculously overpriced aftershave for someone that didn’t couldn’t even grow facial hair. The soft ribbons of Charles hair fell against Max’s, tangling them together as they pressed close to one another. 

“That’s it, mate, you did it. Told you you’d be okay.” Charles eventually said, smiling caringly at him and grabbing some toilet roll for Max to wipe his eyes and nose with. 

“I hate this.” Max repeated, his voice horse and painful. 

“Do you know what caused it?” Charles asked. 

Max had been having panic attacks for a while, and when they’d started, their dads had insisted that both Charles and Valtteri know how to deal with them should something happen whilst they weren’t around. And Max was grateful. He really was. All it took was a single worded text and his twin brother had come flying to him, dropping to his knees in jeans that Max knew cost hundreds in a mucky corner of their school toilets. But Max hated talking about it. He didn’t want to tell his brothers or his dads what happened. 

Valtteri and Charles knew Max didn’t have many friends, preferring to spend his time in the library working or reading. But they didn’t know that it was because Max couldn’t manage having friends or about the constant verbal abuse. People were careful not to say anything in front of either of his brother. Charles was a scrappy little fighter and Valtteri was Valtteri. He terrified you with a single look. Charles may ignore Max most of the time they’re at school, rolling his eyes when he’d see Max make his way to the library, but that didn’t mean he didn’t look out for his brother. He just didn’t make the effort to do anything to involve him, but he always looked out for him. 

“Max, what caused it?” Charles questioned again, seeing the fight in Max’s expression as he debated whether to tell Charles or not. 

“Just..it’s nothing. Someone just said something and I think it just caught me wrong.” Max attempted to weasel out. 

“Who? Who said something?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t see,” Max honestly shrugged, pushing himself to his feet and shouldering his backpack. He walked over to the sinks and ran the tap, splashing water in his face to try and calm the redness in his eyes. 

Charles followed him, leaning his hip against the sinks and crossing his arms across his chest defiantly. 

“What did they say?”

“Just stuff, you know how it is.”

“No I don’t.” Charles shrugged, before he tried again, “What did they say, Max?”

“Charles, I’m really tired. Can we do this later?” Max begged, really not wanting to get into it. 

He was exhausted, everything ached and his head was pounding and he just wanted to sit in the corner of the library and put his headphones in and just ignore everything for a while. Praying that the words would go away. Praying that the echoes of the words they’d said and the abrupt dropping off his hand from Daniel would leave his brain. 

He just needed to be alone. 

This is why he couldn’t have friends and do fun things. He was too quiet, too used to his own company. And now he had the loudest, most sociable boy in the entire world after him and Max didn’t know how he was meant to let him in. He couldn’t sit in the cafeteria with him during break or lunch, it was too loud and it hurt Max’s head. He couldn’t stand outside and watch Daniel run around with his friends playing football during the breaks, he couldn’t handle being on the sidelines with everyone else huddled together and him on his own. Letting Daniel in meant letting go of everything Max knew about how to manage school. And he didn’t know if he could do that. 

“If you don’t talk to me later I’m telling Dad.” Charles threatened. 

Max let out a huge sigh and nodded. 

“Fine, but please, let’s just do this later. You don’t need to tell Dads, I’m just really fucking tired.” Max scrubbed his hands over his face and yawned. 

Charles stared at him for a moment longer, assessing something, and then nodded. 

“Thank you,” Max breathed out. He didn’t know if he was thanking Charles for dropping the subject, for not leaving him, or for coming running at the drop of a text message. They fought in the way all siblings did, and Max wanted to throttle Charles probably 75% of the time. But it was these moments that Max really appreciated his brother.

“No problem, you going to the library?”

“Yeah,” he confirmed, running his hand through his hair and then following Charles out of the bathrooms. 

“Cool, I’ll walk with you.”

The twins fell into a silent step, heading down the corridor and up the stairs. Max knew Charles would’ve been on the other side of the school, far away from the library and probably being one of the trouble makers who went sprinting around the yard causing havoc and nearly knocking over the younger students with his friends. But he appreciated the silent company. Sometimes it was nice to not feel completely alone. 

“We’ll talk later, yeah?” Charles asked as they got to the door. 

Max lifted his hand and held out his pinky finger. Charles linked his own pinky around Max’s and they wiggled their hands. 

“Promise.”

Charles blinked slowly at him one last time and turned to leave. Max lifted his hand to push the door open when he was nearly knocked off-kilter by Charles slamming into his side, his arms wrapped around Max and hugging him tight briefly. 

“You’re my brother, okay? We’ve got each other, me, you, Val. That’s all we need. Fuck whoever hurt you, but you say the word and we’ll end them for you? Alright?” Charles whispered and pulled away, sauntering off down the corridor before he even gave Max a chance to respond. 

Charles may be an absolute brat most of the time, but Max loved him. He smiled softly at his brother’s retreating back and shook his head, pushed open the door to the library and entered. Peace and calmness and tranquillity fell through his bones and Max close his eyes for just a second. A second was all it took for his brain to slow down and his heart to recalibrate itself. 

It was going to be okay. 

He just had to figure out what to do about it all. 

——

Kimi was looking anxiously at him in the rear-view mirror as he drove the twins home. Charles was sat shotgun and Max curled into the door, his head resting in his hand and fast asleep. 

“He had a panic attack today, he didn’t want me to tell you or Dad, but it was bad, Isä, he was screaming that he was going to die,” Charles quietly told him, never once looking up from his phone. 

“Do you know what caused it?”

Charles shook his head, locked his phone and started spinning it between his fingers. His eyes followed every spin, not able to take his eyes away from it. 

“He says he’ll talk to me when we get home. It happened at lunch and it’s the worst I’ve seen in a long time. He just said that someone said something and it cut him wrong or something, I don’t know. I got a text saying ‘help’, literally just help. And I just fuckin’ sprinted, Dad, just left my bag and dropped my lunch and ran. I didn’t even know where he was or what was wrong. I just had to get to him.”

“Thank you for looking out for him,” Kimi said, ruffling Charles’ hair which had Charles smile awkwardly and shrug, “I know you two kind of avoid each other at school, and I’m not telling you off or telling you that you should hang out at school. You’re completely different people, you wouldn’t do good to be around each other all the time.”

Charles looked over at him. Kimi had a stoic look in his eyes as he stared at the cars in front and Charles could feel the ‘but’ coming. 

“I know, I try to at least not give him any shit at school.”

“Unfortunately, kid, that doesn’t matter when everyone else does.” Kimi told him. Charles turned abruptly and stared at Kimi. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’ve seriously not noticed? Charles, he has basically no friends. Every single day he hides in the library because otherwise people call him out for being alone. He doesn’t come home and hide in his room doing homework every day because he wants to, it’s because no one else wants anything to do with him. It’s why he’s fell so quick and so hard for Daniel. It’s why me and your dad quiz you and Val on Daniel so hard,” Kimi explained. 

Charles threw his head back into the headrest and looked out the window. He really hadn’t noticed. 

Max had always been quiet, right from them being little kids. He’d stuck to Charles’ side like glue, and like many twins, they only knew how to be friends with each other for a long time, until teachers had separated them into opposite classes in order for them to learn to be apart. And Charles had thrived whilst Max withdrew harder into himself. He’d find Charles in the playground every single day, just silently follow him around whilst he played with the other kids. Sometimes Max would want to play, and other times he was more content to just sit and watch them play. 

When they started secondary school, Charles had tried to push his sibling away. It wasn’t cool to have your brother follow you around and he tried to pretend that Max didn’t even exist. It didn’t help that Max was the smartest kid in their year, whilst Charles had been pretty average, and he knew that Max got called a swot and a smartass. Fuck, Charles had been the ringleader behind calling him a smartass most of the time. 

Was that the reason why no one liked Max now? Had it all been Charles’ fault right from the start? Should he not have tried harder to tag Max along into things and with his friends? Valtteri had. Valtteri was the cool, older brother that everyone respected and he hadn’t been ashamed of his siblings. Valtteri was always lurking and he’d normally drop by wherever his brothers were to drop off something or other and to check on them. He’d even argued with Charles more than once in the middle of corridors when Charles was getting too shitty for his own good. 

“It’s not your fault, Charles. He’s quiet, he doesn’t talk about these things. We only knew about this because Valtteri told us.”

Charles nodded but he kept frowning. How did Valtteri know and Charles didn’t? They were the twins. Not Max and Valtteri. He should know everything about his twin brother. Why did Max not talk to him about whatever this issue was? He and Max argued all the time, of course they did, they were teenagers after all. But they also told each other everything. They stayed up late together all the time, hunched over their laptops with a movie playing on the tv and looking at universities together and murmuring about what they were going to get out of life. Charles had been the first one Max had cried to when he realised he was into boys, when he realised he was into Daniel, when he panicked over their futures and the idea of moving away from home. 

And yet Max didn’t even tell Charles the real reason why he was scared. 

Being home was the only place that Max wasn’t alone. He had their dads. His brothers. The elderly couple’s dog next door that Max would walk sometimes. He was settled here and people liked him at home. 

“Dad, what do I do?” Charles whispered.

“Just be there for him, talk to him tonight and we’ll figure something out. Maybe talk to Daniel, see if he knows anything.”

Charles nodded and turned around to look at Max. He could see the exhaustion on Max’s face. It was only when Max was asleep that he finally looked at peace, even if the bags under his eyes were darker and there was a hint of tear tracks on his cheeks. He didn’t know what had happened, but he’d figure it out. He had to. He had to look after his big brother. 

\----

Max instantly went to curl up under his blanket in bed when they got home. His body felt heavy and his head was still hurting and he just wanted to go to sleep. Kimi had hugged him warmly and Charles had stared at him for a while, not even making a comment like he normally would when Max instantly vanished into his room. But he just couldn’t sit and play on the playstation with Charles, or do his homework like he’d planned. He just needed some quiet. 

Max changed into some sleep clothes, just a pair of shorts and an oversized t-shirt, threw his phone from his jeans pocket onto his pillow and unpacked his backpack. He lined his school books up on his desk and checked the post-it note he’d left with things to do. Nothing important. Max rubbed his eyes tiredly and fell into bed, his blanket tucked over his head, and pulled his phone into his hands. 

He opened the text thread with Daniel, unable to read the previous messages right now. The poetic words Daniel had text him meant nothing when all Max could hear was the reasons why Daniel shouldn’t even date him.

Daniel   
  
Hey, sorry to drop this at the last minute but I’m not feeling well and I wouldn’t be good company and I’m really really sorry but can we hang out another day? I am really sorry and I do want to hang out but I just feel bad right now and I don’t want to ruin the mood. I’m really really sorry x  
  


Max turned his phone off and chucked it to the side once he’d sent the message. He didn’t want to wait and see Daniel’s message and see Daniel get pissed off at him for cancelling and ignoring him again. If he’d already been collaring Charles to ask what happened with Max at school, he was bound to get pissed off that Max had cancelled on him on the one time that he’d finally been able to catch Max at school and actually make plans. 

The blanket was a dark cocoon around him and Max felt calmer. His breath was slow and calm and his lungs weren’t aching. Slowly, Max could feel his eyes close, pulling themselves shut with the weight of the day on him. 

“Max, baby, it’s dinner time.” 

The blanket was pulled away from Max’s head and he screwed his eyes shut, trying to cling onto the last bit of sleep. The room was dark and when Max peeked his eye open, the bright red numbers of his alarm clock told him he’d been asleep for nearly four hours. Yet he was still exhausted. 

Clumsily, Max pushed himself up, his arms shaking under his own weight and pulled the blanket round his shoulders. Sebastian was sat on the edge of his bed, his shirt untucked and his tie loose around his neck, clearly not having been in from work long.

“Hi dad.”

“Hey kiddo, you ready for some food?”

Max’s stomach tilted violently at the thought and he quickly shook his head. 

“Okay, but at least come downstairs and get some water, alright?” Sebastian requested but Max knew it was more of an order. The slight quirk to his eyebrow when he said something phrased as a question but was actually an order was something Max had seen him do numerous times when he got a new client at work. 

Max pushed himself off his bed and tied his blanket round his shoulders. Sebastian kissed his temple as they started to walk downstairs and rubbed his fingers through Max’s hair. In the presence of his dad, Max felt like a little boy all over again. He was safe at home. His dads would look after him. He could breathe easier here. 

Valtteri looked up as Max walked in, holding a plate up in question and frowning when Max declined his offer of food. Max saw the minute Valtteri clicked that Max was having a rough day. The blanket only ever came downstairs when Max needed to feel safe. Safe from his own head. Safe from his heart. Safe from something that Max couldn’t even explain but what felt like an omniscient presence that just sat on his shoulder and repeated all the shit he heard all the time at school. 

Max took his place opposite Charles and beside Valtteri at the table, falling into his seat and immediately dropping his head onto the hard wood. His eyes threatened to close again but a swift kick from Charles had him look up. Concerned looks from everyone but Charles, who just looked at him with the emptiest expression, met him and Max slunk down in his chair, tightening his grip on the blanket and dropping his chin to rest against his chest. He didn’t want to look at them. Didn’t want to be reminded of how _fucking_ disappointed they all were in him. 

“Drink, Max.” Kimi said, placing the water bottle down in front of him. Max took it into his shaky hands and placed it in his lap, swaying it slightly and watching as the water sloshed against the sides. 

“Want to talk about it?”

“Would rather not.” Max mumbled. 

“Was it them again?” Valtteri quietly asked, leaning into his side so only Max could hear what he said. 

Max looked sharply up at him. 

“How do you…?”

“I hear things.” Valtteri told him shortly. 

Max’s breath came out shakily. He thought he’d managed to keep this from them. If Valtteri had noticed, that means Charles would’ve noticed, and they’d probably told his dads and that meant that his dads would question him and Max would probably have another panic attack and Charles definitely would’ve told Dad that Max had had a huge panic attack at school and then they’d question him on why and he didn’t want to talk about it and he just wanted everyone to be quiet but they were all shouting and it was getting loud and it was hurting and it was painful and everything was shaking and he just-

“Max, listen to me, just listen to me, I’ve got you, it’s okay, you’re safe here. You just need to breathe slowly okay.”

Max shook his head and let out the sobs that were tearing him apart. He pulled the blanket up around his head, screwed his eyes shut as tight as he could and pressed his hands onto his ears, his knees tucked against his chest as he curled into himself on his chair. Darkness enveloped him as he buried himself under the blanket. It was safe here. The darkness kept him safe. 

He could feel someone moving him and the cold tiles of the floor hit the soles of his feet as he was placed onto the floor. Probably to avoid him falling off the chair. 

Arms came around his shoulders and back and pulled him into someone’s chest. He wasn’t panicking like he had at school in front of Charles, he was just stuck with the screaming in his head and it was too loud and it was scaring him. Vibrations hit his ears as the person hugging him shushed him, trying to calm the sobs. 

_“You’re so weird I don’t even know why Daniel would want to date you ‘cause I know I wouldn’t”_

_“Bet he’s easy, or he’s dead freaky in bed, you know the nerds always are”_

_“Daniel could do so much better”_

_“He’s only dating you because your brother said no, he’s just making Charles jealous”_

_“Everyone knows he wants Charles”_

Hands came to grip at his wrists, stopping him from clawing and pulling at his hair.

“Calm down, Max, it’s okay.”

The darkness made way for light as the blanket fell from him and Max looked up. It was just him and his dads huddled on the floor, Charles and Valtteri nowhere to be seen. 

“That’s it, kid, you’re alright, we’ve got you.” 

Max wiped his face and tugged the blanket back tight around him.

“I’m okay,” Max was able to whisper, dropping his head onto Kimi’s shoulder and closing his eyes slightly. 

“Second one of the day, huh?” Kimi replied, smiling sadly when Max sighed and nodded minutely. 

“That was mild compared to the one earlier. Charles tell you?”

“Yeah, in the car. Said you was screaming about dying?”  


“Honestly I don’t even remember,” Max told them, his breathing still coming out in hiccups, “I really don’t. I remember texting him and that was it, and then we walked to the library. I don’t remember anything between it.”

“Do you know what’s causing it?” Sebastian asked. 

When Max looked up, he had his serious face on. His Lawyer face, as they called it. The face that was hard and serious and always just screamed that he was on the verge of suing someone or something for any little thing that he could find. 

“Daniel.” Max admitted.

His Dads sucked in a hard breath and Max shook his head to quickly explain. 

“Not actually him, just his friends. They’re shit.”

“Max-”

“It’s why I hide from him. You know how Charles said this morning in the car that Daniel asks where I go?” He waited for Kimi to nod, “It’s because when he sees me at school I run off. I don’t like being near his friends because they scare me, they’re not great people at the minute. Normally they’re fine, but since Daniel…”

“They don’t like that he’s got someone new?” Sebastian asked, trying to fill in the gaps of Max trailing off. 

“They don’t like that I’m not like them.” Max corrected. 

He didn’t know why he was telling them everything, he just was. It felt like he had to. In order to stop the screaming in his head and the thoughts echoing darkly, he had to tell them. It was either that or they’d send him back to therapy. And whilst Max didn’t mind therapy, in fact he kind of liked it, it was cathartic and helpful to talk to someone that wouldn’t immediately put Max on tenterhooks about potentially starting a fight (aka Charles and Valtteri) or trying to sue them (aka what Sebastian would do), he didn’t want to go back. He was doing so much better these days. 

It was just a huge change going from being the quiet one just known for being Charles and Valtteri’s brother, to being the one that Daniel Ricciardo was spending half his time flirting with and suddenly everyone noticing him for a different reason. 

And Max didn’t do well with change. 

“Have you talked to Daniel?”

“I was meant to hang out with him tonight, but I just couldn’t. I text him to say I wasn’t feeling well and so we’ll do it again another time,” Max told them. 

“You need to talk to him, Max. You can’t keep hiding and avoiding this.” Kimi said, and Max knew he was right even if he didn’t want to admit it. 

“I will, at some point. I just, I don’t want to scare him off, you know? I just want to see where it goes first.”

His dads looked at each other over his head and Max knew they were having a silent conversation. He knew they didn’t agree with Max. They were the kind of people that thrived on honesty and they also knew just how badly Max had fell for Daniel. Max would talk to Daniel, he just didn’t know when. He struggled to verbalise so much of what went on in his head. It was hard enough telling Charles these things half the time and he and Charles told each other everything. 

He couldn’t just tell Daniel. He couldn’t tell Daniel just how shitty his friends could be and how Max was scared of everything Daniel entailed. 

“Can I go to bed now?” Max asked, just wanting to be away and curled up in his own space. 

Sticking around in front of his dads and just having to keep talking about how scared Max was, it just didn’t seem like fun. They all still had to eat dinner, having been interrupted by Max’s impromptu panic, and he didn’t want to be sat around whilst they tried to either talk about what had happened or pretend like it hadn’t. It seemed like too much effort to be in the room. 

“Sure, I’ll come check on you later.” Kimi told him, pressed a lingering kiss to Max’s temple and whispered, “Rakastan sinua, poika.”

“Rakastan sinua, Isä,” Max replied. 

Max shuffled to his feet and grabbed the water bottle, clutching it between his fists and stumbled his way up the stairs, his blanket a cape on his shoulders, giving him the strength he needed. 

Max flopped straight back into bed, his eyes closing and sleep overtaking him as soon as his head touched the pillow. 

He woke up at some point, harsh blue lighting filling the room and he looked over when he felt the bottom of his bed shift. Charles was sat, legs dangling over the edge of his bed with his back to Max, a playstation controller in his hands and Max’s gaming headset covering one of his ears. Max smiled. 

Charles had his own playstation in his room, as well as the one downstairs. But it was nice knowing his brother came to stay with him, just keeping an eye on him and making Max feel just a little bit less alone even as he slept. He fell asleep again before he saw Charles turn and look at him, just to check he was okay. He didn’t feel Charles tuck himself in to the bottom of Max’s bed either, sleeping top-and-tail like they used to as little boys. But when he woke up the next day to his alarm and saw the dark head of hair at the bottom of his bed, just sticking out under the quilt, Max smiled softly.  


He and Charles may spend most of the time they’re together fighting, screaming and shouting, pushing and shoving at each other and throwing all sorts of threats of violence at each other, but in the moments that they got along, Max really loved his brother. Charles drove him up the wall probably 75% of the time they existed, but he was a good brother.

\----

Charles walked with him to first lesson, their classes right next to each other as Max walked into his German class and Charles into his French. Charles patted him on the shoulder as they separated and smiled at him. 

“Find me at break, I’ve got something I want to show you.” Charles made him promise and as much as Max wanted to deny him, he appreciated Charles just trying to make an effort with him at school and so he agreed, before walking into his classroom. 

His phone vibrated in his pocket for what Max was pretty sure to be the tenth time since he’d got onto school premises not half an hour prior. And he knew if he pulled out his phone and looked, they’d all be the same contact. He never looked to see if Daniel had replied and he didn’t want to. Sometimes, it was just helpful to not think about what everyone else was going to say and do. Max had things to do. And that included getting this damn German A-Level grade. 

The class was fairly standard, Max speaking up occasionally and conversing with the teacher about Germany. They all turned to collectively stare at the back wall when they heard cheers and hollering coming from Charles’ class and turned to each other laughing in confusion. 

“You got to ask Charles what happened,” Alex piped up to Max, “They have way too much fun learning French, I want to know what we’re missing out on.”

Max laughed slightly, his cheeks flushing and dropping his eyes. Alex was nice. He made an effort to always talk to Max, in a similar situation himself in only having a couple other friends that he talked to. And his friends were nice too. Admittedly, Lando was a bit odd and George was a bit of a Lad (Max didn’t really know how else to describe him), and Max wasn’t entirely sure how Alex fit into their little trio, but they were good friends and Max liked them. They never gave him any trouble and they always smiled when they saw Max in the corridor. 

Maybe Max should make more of an effort with them too. They seemed like a good set of friends to have. 

“I’ll ask him at break,” Max promised, watching as the grin grew on Alex’s face. 

“Cool, you could let us know at lunch, you can come sit with us if you like?”

“Oh…” Max murmured, not sure how to tell Alex that that wasn’t going to happen, Max didn’t sit in the cafeteria for lunch, “Er, yeah, maybe.”

“Cool! We’ll be in room 27, Lando’s coding up some game about milk or something so we’re normally in there if you want to come chill with us.” 

Max looked across at Alex. He didn’t seem like the kind of person that would lie or anything devious. He seemed nice. And if they didn’t sit in the cafeteria either, maybe there was something there that Max could make friends with. 

“Okay, I’ll find you later,” Max agreed. He felt hopeful at the prospect of finally making friends. Maybe one day he could finally tell his brothers that he had proper friends and not just people that he recognised. 

Once the lesson was over, Max had a free period and so he headed to the library, intent on catching up the homework he hadn’t had chance to do the night before. He felt calmer today. Like all the worry and anxiety and panic, it had all gone. The rollercoaster he was riding was on a steady track and he wasn’t shaking all over the place today. He wasn’t racing through the air at 100mph, he was instead moving steadily, just going through the motions and he was content. It was nice to not be moving so fast. 

Max stuck his headphones in as soon as he got to his spot in the corner, burying his head in his workbooks and got started. He saw Daniel’s name flash across the screen when he unlocked it to turn his Spotify on and saw the giant red bubble with a white 11 held inside it, but he ignored it. Right now, he was in a good headspace. He didn’t want to risk making it worse by looking at Daniel’s messages. 

The hour passed by quickly and Max packed his things away slowly. Going to find Charles would be fairly easy. He’d either be in the cafeteria with his friends or on the yard playing football. But the idea of finding him was worrying. Max didn’t know why Charles wanted him or what he had to see, but he’d find out once he got there. 

Max shouldered his backpack and silently left, keeping his head down and his hands in his pockets as he walked. 

The corridors were quiet, the sound barely coming through of all the shouting out on the yard, which is why Max was confused when he heard Charles’ voice. 

“This is going to hurt him you know.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to. I just can’t help it.” Another voice added. Max frowned and picked up the pace. He knew that voice, regardless of how quiet they were trying to be. 

As Max walked around the corner, he regretted ever agreeing to finding Charles. 

They were close to each other, sharing their air between their lips and Max felt his heart break.

Daniel had his back pressed up against the wall, Charles in front of him with his hands on the wall either side of Daniel’s head, boxing him in. Daniel was looking intently into Charles’ eyes and Charles was doing the same back. He watched Daniel’s eyes trace the path of Charles’ tongue when it crept out to quickly lick his lips. 

Max quickly retreated, heading back down the corridor and past the reception again. He swiped his ID Card and ran out of the doors. 

Charles had promised him that Daniel wasn’t his type. 

Daniel had promised him that Charles wasn’t the kind of guy he wanted to date. 

Charles knew how Max felt about Daniel. 

Daniel’s friends were right. 

Maybe they hadn’t been being cruel and shitty. Maybe they were actually just making factual observations about how Daniel was just using Max. Charles was the one boxing him in and Daniel didn’t seem bothered. 

Charles was a brat. 

But Max hadn’t realised he could be quite so cruel enough to actually take Daniel away from him. 

“Max! Max come back!” Valtteri shouted, chasing after his brother. Max picked up the pace. He couldn’t see his brother, couldn’t see Valtteri’s concern and not tell him what Charles had done. 

Max didn’t even feel sad about the whole thing. 

He just felt empty. 

The brother he’d loved and trusted. 

And he’d just betrayed Max like it meant nothing. 

Like Max meant nothing. 

Arms came around Max’s waist and he narrowly avoided the two of them tumbling down. 

“Max, shit, what happened? What the hell happened?” Valtteri begged, spinning his brother around and holding his shoulders tightly. 

“Nothing, just leave me the fuck alone!” Max screamed, trying to push his way out of Valtteri’s hold. But Valtteri tightened his grip and stopped Max’s wiggling. 

“No, tell me what happened!”

“Charles happened!” Max screamed, “I hate him, I fucking hate them both.”

Valtteri’s eyes went from being concerned to looking like he was about to murder someone. 

“What did he do?”

“He told me to meet him, he had something he wanted to show me. And then I just find him with Daniel and their faces are like inches away from each other. Everyone was right, Val, he just used me to get to Charles.” 

Max flinched when Valtteri brought his hand up, and was alarmed when he felt Valtteri’s thumb brush over his cheek. He hadn’t even realised he was crying. 

“I just- I really thought it would be different this time,” Max whimpered, all the fight leaving his body as he sagged in Valtteri’s hold. “I thought maybe, just for once, someone actually wanted me. But no. It’s always him. It’s always, _always_ him.”

“Fuck him,” Valtteri said, his voice steel, “Fuck the pair of them. They’re not worth it, Max. You’re worth it. He’s such a little shit and you know what he gets like. Fuck Charles, Max. Just ignore him. He’s not worth it.”

“He’s our brother.” Max argued weakly. 

“Fuck him.” He repeated. “That doesn’t ever explain his shit behaviour.”

Max shrugged. He was really tired of all of this. 

“Come on, come and sit with us. We’re debating what the best breed of dog is and you’re the only one who will agree with me.” Valtteri said, pulling Max along to come and join with his friends. Valtteri’s friends were nice. Max had joined them a few times and they always sat on a picnic bench in the front courtyard. It was quieter out here. Max could stay here for a while. 

Valtteri sat back down next to Lewis and Max poked his side teasingly when Valtteri blushed at the soft, reassuring smile Lewis gave him. 

“You alright, Max?” Lewis asked, leaning around Valtteri and smiling at the younger boy.

“Boys are shit.” Max replied, nodding awkwardly with the tears still occasionally falling but slowing. 

“Preach it, brother.” Someone said, which had Max laugh. 

“So, Valtteri Junior, best breed of dog?” Someone else said, staring at Max intently waiting for his answer.

“I know Valtteri wants me to say Dalmatian, but honestly-”

“DO NOT FINISH THAT SENTENCE!” Valtteri interrupted, slamming his hand over Max’s mouth to silence him. Max laughed behind his palm and tried to tug it away. 

“Labrador!” Max managed to get out, which had them all laugh and Valtteri glare jokingly at him. 

The pain of what Charles had done was still there, but Max was finding it hard to care. Sitting with Valtteri and his friends took his mind of it and Max had to admit it was actually kind of great. Even if they did insist on calling him Valtteri Junior. 

Max ignored Charles for the rest of the day. Charles grabbed him at one point and Max simply pulled his arm free and walked off, ignoring the way Charles shouted after him and jumped back in front of him to try and get his attention, but Max just pushed him out the way. He heard Charles’s friends make some form of comment about Max getting brave for ignoring Charles and pushing him away, but he couldn’t find it in him to care.

Every time he looked at Charles, he saw Daniel in his arms. 

Daniel came up to him just as lunch started, but Max didn’t even look at him. Instead he kept walking and went to room 27. Daniel’s friends made a comment themselves, but Max shut his ears off to them. 

He was done with people making a mockery of him. 

His own brain did that enough. 

Max knocked tentatively on the door when he got there and pushed it open when Alex poked his head over a computer and started waving at him. 

“Hi, is it okay if I come sit with you?”

“Of course! You can give us your opinion on Lando’s game, what’s your opinion on milk?” Alex asked, and Max laughed slightly. 

This was the most that he’d been asked his opinion outside of a class discussion in a while, and Max found that actually it was okay. He was still really shy about actually saying anything in front of Alex and his friends, and Max mostly just nodded and laughed awkwardly. But George and Lando didn’t seem to notice and Alex gave him a fond smile at one point, so Max guessed he did okay. He and Alex quietly did their German homework together, Max timidly pointing out a mistake that he saw Alex make and smiling when Alex thanked him. 

“Yooooooo, why is Daniel Ricciardo and Charles just staring at us through the window?” Lando suddenly said. 

Max rolled his eyes and looked up. 

“Hey, George? Go and tell them to fuck off, we’re trying to work in here and it’s off-putting.” Alex said, not giving Max a chance to say anything himself. 

Max was about to tell George it was okay, but he didn’t get a chance before George was sticking his head out the door and repeating what Alex had said. 

“No. I want to talk to my brother.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be a shit sibling and then maybe he’d talk to you.” George said and Max felt his jaw drop. 

“Yeah, George might’ve seen the whole thing earlier with them two and then you running off.” Lando said without taking his eyes off the screen and his fingers moving frantically over the keyboard. 

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Charles asked. 

“Not my place. Bye shits.” And George shut the door on them, leaving Charles and Daniel outside just staring at them. 

George turned back around and dropped into his chair beside Alex, throwing his arm over the back of Alex’s chair and smiling at Max.

“Thank you,” Max murmured, his cheeks flushed as he fiddled with his pen. He didn’t look up at George, but he could see George watching him. 

“No problem. No offence, but your brother is an absolute asshole sometimes and he deserved it.”

“No offence taken, honestly.” Max shrugged, scribbling down some more words. 

He didn’t say anything more, just got on with his translations. German was a language he was incredibly familiar with, thanks to his dad and also living there for a few years, but he still enjoyed learning it at school, even if Dad would go through it and check. Not that he needed to. Max’s German was perfect. 

The bell went at some point and Max shoved his book back into his bag. Alex and Lando stood up to follow him whilst George stayed in his seat as his next class was in this room. When they got to the door, Max turned awkwardly and said to the three of them, 

“Thank you for letting me hang out with you.”

“Anytime. And if you have any more issues, just tell George, he’ll fight them for you.” Lando said, smiling at Max.

“I don’t think that’s necessary, but thanks.” 

The four of them exchanged a final smile and Max made his way out of the room, waving to Lando and Alex and then turning left to go down the corridor whilst Alex and Lando both headed right. 

Max felt calmer than he had in a long time. Alex and his friends genuinely seemed nice, and the way George looked at Alex, it was everything Max wanted. All the anxiety from the morning, it just didn’t matter. Max had finally found some friends. Some people that seemed to actually like him and Max felt okay with that. They were the kind of people that Max needed. 

Quiet. Calm. Protective. 

But also, they were funny. And warm. And inclusive. 

Max didn’t think he’d spend all his time with them, he was still someone that was quite content with his own company, but maybe he could join them more? Maybe he could go and sit with them every now and again, when life got a bit scary and he was lonely and he just needed someone that wasn’t his brothers. 

He thought that would be Daniel. 

But if what he saw with Charles this morning was anything to go by, Max was pretty sure that ship had sailed and sunk quicker than Max could’ve anticipated. 

Daniel had been so kind and gentle and soft on their date. Gently kissing him and holding his hand and letting Max press his face into his neck when the film got too scary for Max’s own good. And he’d said he didn’t mind, that he liked Max. That he knew Max got anxious but he liked that he was nice. He’d even called Max cute. He’d never been called that by anyone that wasn’t family before. 

But clearly, Max had done something. He’d already fucked things up and Charles had seen a way to weedle in and take Daniel. And he hated his brother for it.

But he also couldn’t blame him. 

Max wasn’t exactly the kind of person that you wanted to be with. He didn’t even know _how_ to be with someone else. He was so used to being alone that he didn’t know what to do in a relationship. Maybe that’s why Daniel had realised Max wasn’t worth it. 

Everyone knew Charles had been around the block more than a few times. He’d had a fling with basically everyone it seemed the minute he was old enough and he was always going out and going to parties. 

Charles had had his first kiss with some random French kid when they were way younger, Max couldn’t even remember but he knew that they were probably somewhere around 10 when he had his first proper kiss, and way younger still the first time he’d ever kissed anyone.

Max hadn’t even told Daniel that he had been his first kiss of any kind. And Max was seventeen.

The final two classes were eventually over and Max knew that he would have to face Charles now. As he walked to the car, Lando caught up beside him. 

“Hey, I just wanted you to know that we genuinely did enjoy you sitting with us, and I know you like to be alone sometimes, but sometimes it’s cool to actually just want to be with people. I don’t know what’s happening with you and Daniel, and if he does turn out than he has been an absolute knobhead I’m really sorry, but you’ve got friends in us and we’ll happy adopt you into our group.”

Max looked across at Lando. He could see the sincerity in his eyes and the trusting manner he spoke with. 

“I appreciate it, thank you.” Max softly said, nodding at the ground. “I’m not good with people, I don’t really know how to make friends but-”

“Just be you. You’re cool. People actually like you, Max. It’s hard to see it sometimes because you’re just stuck in this eternal darkness and you don’t think you’re ever going to get out of it. But you will. And it doesn’t always seem like you know how you can do that, but you’ll find the right person or people, and they’ll help you. They’ll guide you to where you want to be and where you need to be.” Lando told him. 

Max could tell Lando was feeling incredibly vulnerable in that moment, but Max knew he was speaking from his heart and from experience. 

“You found your right person?”

Lando softly chuckled. 

“Yeah, yeah I did. And he guided me to Alex and George. It seems hard, sometimes. And you don’t always know where to find it, but there’s love out there. And it’ll find its way to you.”

“You’re really philosophical,” Max murmured, which had Lando scrunch his face up, giggle slightly and grin at Max. 

“Yeah, my boyfriend says that too when it’s like 3am and I get into a whole thing about how a bag of crisps is a metaphor for something. Normally he tries to smother me with a pillow though.” Lando joked, nudging Max’s elbow with his own. “Anyway, here, my number. Text me anytime, I’ll add you to the groupchat we have if you like.”

“That would be nice, thank you.” Max blushed and stopped beside Kimi’s car, “This is me, anyway. I’ll see you Monday?”

“See you Monday, mate.” Lando grinned and quickly hugged Max. He pulled away before Max got a chance to hug him back and he watched as Lando looked left and right before running across the road and into the arms of someone else. Probably the boyfriend. Lando turned back and waved, and Max waved back. 

Maybe he did have some friends in these boys. 

“Hey dad.” Max said as he slid into the passenger seat, dropping his bag at his feet and smiling reassuringly. 

“Who was that?” Kimi nodded, staring at the blissful look on Max’s face. 

“Lando. He’s friends with Alex. The boy I had to do that presentation with in German?” Kimi nodded. “Yeah, Charles was kinda getting off with Daniel I think and I ended up hanging out with them instead so, they’re cool. I think they’re gonna be my friends.”

“Charles did what?!” Kimi admonished. 

“I dunno, he had Daniel pressed up against the wall and they were dead close to each other. I didn’t stick around to see but they were talking about me and Charles said something about how this was going to hurt me, but I didn’t stay to hear them talk about how Daniel is obviously going to ditch me for Charles.” Max shrugged. He was surprised to find it didn’t hurt that much to say it. 

When he was alone tonight though, Max knew that all the thoughts would be spinning in his head and he’d probably break down and cry and sob that he’d been so stupidly naïve to fall for Daniel and to believe the words he’d said. 

“Max why won’t you talk to me?” Charles said the second he climbed into the backseat, pushing himself in between the front seats to look at Max.

Kimi pushed him back into the seat and glared at him. 

“Sit down and be quiet. We’ll talk when we get home.”

Charles threw his hands up in the air and let out an annoyed sigh. 

“Why is everyone acting like I’ve done something wrong?!”  


“What part of be quiet do you not understand?” Kimi sternly told him and Max shrunk into himself, folding his arms tightly around his chest and biting his lip to stop the tears that had instantly built up in his eyes at his brother’s voice. 

Charles rolled his eyes and dropped back into his seat, angrily tugging his seatbelt around him as they waited for Valtteri to join them. The atmosphere was tense and Max could feel the glare of Charles’s eyes hitting the back of his head as he muttered quietly. 

“Afternoon shithead, Max, Dad,” Valtteri said as he climbed into the car. 

“What the hell did I do?!” Charles shouted.

“We will talk when we get home!” Kimi interrupted and all three boys just fell silent. Charles rolled his eyes again but didn’t say anything. Instead they all just stayed silent for the entire time that Kimi drove them home. 

Max was first out of the car when they got home, but Charles was quick to follow, grabbing his wrist and spinning him around. 

“What is your issue with me? Yesterday you act like my best fucking mate and now you won’t even look at me?”

“I don’t want to talk to you right now.” Max said, pulling his arm free. 

“You wouldn’t talk to me yesterday, you won’t talk to me today! I don’t know what else I’m meant to do!”  


“Maybe don’t steal your brother’s boyfriend?” Valtteri said, knocking into Charles and pushing the twins towards the door. 

“What?!” Charles shouted, his eyes going wide as though he couldn’t believe he’d been caught. 

Max tugged his arm free and sprinted into the house, bombing up the stairs with Charles still stood statue still in the front yard. 

He flung his door open and threw himself in, slamming the door shut so loud it echoed to the deepest corners of the world. Slowly Max dropped to the floor, his back pressed against the door and his knees pulled to his chest. No tears fell this time, he felt too empty to even breathe. 

“Max, please, just let me explain, it’s not what you think.” Charles’ voice came through the door, pleading desperately for him to listen. 

“I don’t want to talk to you.” Max repeated. He was proud when his voice didn’t waver. It wasn’t strong. It wasn’t powerful. It was quiet and timid and reserved. But it wasn’t emotional. 

“Max, fuck, I promise you I didn’t steal Daniel, I swear to God I didn’t, you know I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“You did it to the others.” Max whispered, not even knowing if Charles could hear him. 

“They’re not you! They’re not my fucking brother, they’re not the one person I trust more than anyone and anything, fuck Max. Just open the bloody door, _please_.” 

Max was surprised to hear Charles’ voice crack with emotion. Charles never cried. Max honestly couldn’t remember the last time he saw Charles cry. 

He pulled the door open and shuffled over to sit on the edge of his bed. Charles pushed the door open and his face scrunched up. He rubbed his hands over his eyes and threaded his fingers through his hair. 

“God, this is such a mess.” He muttered. 

“Yeah I’m aware.” Max responded. Never once could he look at Charles, he didn’t even look up as Charles came to sit beside him, just kept pulling at a loose thread on his blanket. 

“Max, please, I promise you, I did not steal Daniel. I don’t even like him like that. He’s cool, and we’re mates but I’d rather date Hamilton than date him. And you know how I feel about Hamilton.” 

Max shook his head. 

“But I saw you two.” 

“I don’t know what you saw, I honestly don’t even know what I did! Val and Dad, they just said that you saw me and Daniel and they won’t tell me anything else. I just spoke to him, Max, I promise. I wouldn’t lie to you. You’re my twin brother, you know what that means to me.”

“You had him against the wall, Charles.”

“Oh shit…” Charles gasped, dropping his head into his hands and his jaw dropping. “Max genuinely it’s not like that.”

“Please don’t lie to me, I’m really tired of people lying to me.”

“I swear on Bentley that I am not lying to you.”

Max looked up sharply at Charles. He saw the fight, the determination, the will to have Max hear him out. And the fact that Charles was willing to swear on Bentley, the old stuffed toy dog that they used to argue over all the time but was the one constant in their lives between everything, all the countries they’d moved between and all the friends they’d made and lost over the years, it showed just how badly Charles wanted to have Max trust him. 

“What happened?” Max asked, and Charles dropped his head in relief to rest on Max’s shoulder. 

“I was going to show you this really stupid game my mate’s boyfriend is making, and it’s probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen, but it would’ve made you laugh. And so I knew you’d come find me at the cafeteria, and so I was like ‘oh, I’ll wait in the corridor, save Max coming to actually look’ because I know it gets a bit loud for you in there. 

“And so I’m waiting in the corridor, and Daniel came around the corner with his usual idiots. And one of them nudged him, and like nodded at me, so I stared at them and then as they walked past me, I grabbed Daniel, told him we needed to talk. The rest of his friends just kept going and that’s when I shoved him into the wall. I boxed him in because I was threatening him, Max. I wasn’t trying to get off with him.”

Charles never lifted his head the entire time and Max stared out of the doorway. Valtteri was sat with his back against the wall opposite Max’s door, watching them both, and he shrugged when Charles finished talking. 

“I promise, Max. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“What did you say to him?” Max asked, nervously wringing his hands together. 

“I told him the truth. That his friends can be idiots and they make your life hell. Dad told me that they say stuff to you, stuff about you not being worth Daniel’s attention. But you are, and I was telling Daniel that. I also told him that if he hurt you, I’d kill him. I already wanted to. His stupid friends gave you the worst panic attack I’ve seen in the longest time, Max. He doesn’t deserve you.”

“You did that? For me?” 

Charles raised his head. He was looking at Max like he had spontaneously turned bright blue and was walking on his hands. 

“Of course I did, you’re my brother, why the hell would I not?”

Max shrugged. He didn’t think he was worth all the protection from his brother and he didn’t know why Charles tried to fight the universe on Max’s behalf as often as he did. 

“Max, you’re my best friend.” Charles told him. 

And for the first time in a long time, Charles hugged Max. Not the kind of hug that Charles gave him when he was panicking and was trying to ground him, or when his dads said ‘it’s your birthdays give your brother a hug’ and force the twins to awkwardly hug each other or like the one outside the library when he quickly tugs Max into his arms and leaves before Max can even process something happened. He was properly wrapping his arms around him and squeezing him tight. Max brought his own arms up and hugged Charles back. 

“I’m sorry.” Max murmured. He buried his face in Charles shoulder.

“Nah, it’s okay. It’s my fault, I should’ve known you were freaking out over Daniel.”

Max shook his head. 

“It’s my fault too, I should’ve trusted you.”

“Eh, you’re not wrong to assume that I was probably trying to get off with him though, it’s not like it’s a secret that I’ve slept with half the fuckin’ sixth form.” Charles joked and Max laughed slightly. 

“You really gotta slow down on that, it’s not a competition.”

“Hey! I’m competing with myself okay?!”

The twins pulled away from each other and smiled gently. 

“I’ll fight every boy I ever need to, Max, no one can hurt you, not on my watch.”

Max nodded. It was the only thing he and Valtteri always did, just constantly threatening to fight any boy that could possibly date Max. He still thought about coming home from his date with Daniel to find his brothers waiting for him on the doorstep. 

“I want food, let’s go get some.” Charles announced, grabbing Max’s wrist and pulling him out of his room. Valtteri had vanished at some point, no longer watching over the twins, but Max didn’t have a chance to look for him, instead just kept following Charles towards the kitchen. 

Kimi was stood leaning against the counter as they approached whilst Sebastian was hunched over the island, rubbing his temple. Neither parent noticed them, too deep in conversation.

“And they’re not talking to each other?” Sebastian asked.

“Who knows. Charles chased him upstairs but whether they’ve talked yet, I have no idea.”

“What’s crack-a-lackin’?” Charles announced as he walked in, Max trailing after him like a shadow. 

Their dads looked at them and saw the matching smiles on their faces. 

“Please tell me you’re not going to murder each other,” Sebastian begged, looking exhausted at the prospect of having to drag the twins off each other should they start fighting. 

“Nah, just gotta stop trying to fuck his boyfriend,” Charles shrugged, winking at Max as he stuck his head in the fridge. 

“OW!” Charles screamed as a hit came back to the back of his back, rubbing at the spot as Max grinned. Kimi simply leaned over him and grabbed something from a higher shelf. 

“Swear again and you can walk home from school for the rest of the term.” He threatened. 

Charles mockingly glared at him, but didn’t say anything, knowing that more often than not his ability to run his mouth had gotten him in trouble. 

Max came to stand beside Sebastian and leant into his side. 

“You alright?” Sebastian asked, kissing his forehead and hugging his middle son tightly. 

“Yeah, we sorted it out. It was just a misunderstanding.”

“Promise? I’m not going to have to come home from work and find one of my twins dead, am I?” 

Max shook his head. 

“He was threatening Daniel. So maybe you’ll have to leave work to go and defend him in court, but it won’t be us killing each other.”

“Eh, I can deal with that,” Sebastian grinned cheekily at Max. He saw the fond smile that Kimi gave him. 

That was what Max wanted. He wanted the love his dads had for each other. 

Only issue is, Max was pretty sure he’d shot it with the only person he wanted it with. 

“Hey, if you two are just going to stand there looking pretty, you can go and clean up. Your school bag is on the floor, Max, and Seb you need to hang up your blazer.” Kimi said, but there was no heat to his voice. Instead he just looked happy. Max liked that. He liked seeing his dads happy. 

“I have literally never seen a blazer before in my life,” Sebastian said angelically, looking anywhere but at Kimi. 

Max dove out the way just as Kimi threw a slice of bread at his head. Charles came to stand beside him as Sebastian chucked it back, only for Kimi to chase after him, wrapping his arms around Sebastian’s waist once he caught him and tickling him. The sound of Sebastian’s laughter filled the house, and Max felt happy. It felt like normality. 

“God they’re like teenagers.” Charles rolled his eyes. 

“Nah they’re not,” Max disagreed. Charles rasied his eyebrow and waited for Max to elaborate. 

“If they were teenagers, they’d be having panic attacks because they had a crush on a way out of their league boy and sleeping with half the people they knew.” 

Charles started laughing and then abruptly cut off when their dads turned to stare at them. 

“What does he mean half the people you know? Just how many people have you slept with, Charles?” Sebastian asked. 

Charles slowly turned and stared at Max, whilst Max brought his hands up to cover his mouth, his shoulders shaking as Charles went bright red. 

But Charles was saved from any awkward answering when the doorbell went. They weren’t expecting anyone, at least Max didn’t think so. 

“Max!” Valtteri’s voice came through, and Max headed out of the kitchen. Charles stood in the doorway with his dads just behind him, watching as Max walked to the door. Valtteri had the door half-shut and instantly Max knew who was going to be behind it. His suspicions were proven correct when he pulled the door open and saw the sad smile. A smile that didn’t fit the normally ecstatic face. 

“Hi, Max.”

“Daniel,” Max whispered. He couldn’t actually believe Daniel was there, awkwardly shuffling side to side, clutching a single white rose in his hand. 

“Hi. Is it okay if I talk to you?”

Max stared and blinked for another moment before the words actually processed. 

“Yeah, yeah of course. Come in.” Daniel stepped into the house. He didn’t look as comfortable as the last time he’d been here. He’d been awkward last time, but this time he looked positively terrified. 

“Keep that bedroom door open, Max.” Sebastian warned, causing Max to flush bright red. 

Max led Daniel up to his room, pushing the door to but not actually shutting it. Technically that wasn’t against the rules as the door was still open, Max thought, even though he knew he wouldn’t win that argument against Sebastian. 

He wasn’t the best lawyer in their city for no reason. 

“Are you feeling better today?” Daniel asked, fiddling with the rose. 

“I had a massive panic attack just after I saw you yesterday, that’s why I wasn’t very well,” Max told him honestly, falling to sit on his bed cross-legged. Daniel did the same after he toed his shoes off, their knees touching as they sat opposite each other. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Daniel said, concern filling his voice as he picked up Max’s hand and linked their fingers together, rubbing his thumb across Max’s hand.

“Because your friends already think I’m enough of a freak, I don’t need to give them more ammunition.” Max told him. It was painful to admit these things to Daniel, but he knew he had to. 

“Don’t call yourself a freak, you have anxiety. It’s not something you can help. I kicked off at them, anyway,” Daniel admitted, “The way they treat you, I honestly didn’t notice how shit they are to you. Obviously I’ve heard the comments in the past, but like, shit, Maxy, it’s bad. They’re horrific.”

Max nodded lowly.

“Normally it’s fine, I can deal with it. I’ve dealt with it long enough. But then it was like, suddenly they were saying what everyone else is thinking and I can’t just pretend I don’t think it all the time, and it hurt, Daniel. It really hurt.”

“The comments about how I’m just using you for Charles and about how could I possibly want to date you and all that? Max, I can’t tell you how fucking sorry I am that you heard that bullshit. It’s not true, babe. It really isn’t. Charles is nice but honestly, that boy is a mess and I don’t want him. Shit, Max, if you want to break up, I get it, honestly I do. It’ll break my heart because I really like you and I still can’t believe you agreed to go on even one date with me, and I feel so incredibly lucky that I got that. But you don’t deserve the shit that comes with me.” Daniel tugged at his curls with his free hand and Max just stared at him. 

Everything Daniel had said sounded like words that should’ve come out of Max’s mouth. 

It was _him_ that was lucky to get a date with Daniel. 

It was _him_ that was risking a broken heart by getting involved with this boy. 

It was _him_ that really really liked the other boy. 

It was _him_ that had all the baggage and shit. 

“Max, baby, I’m so, so fucking sorry, and I can’t apologise enough. Nothing I ever say will make up for what they’ve done to you and I hate that what happened with Charles got misconstrued and I hate that I basically caused you to have a panic attack and to fall out with Charles and that. I am so sorry.” Daniel continued when Max never said anything. 

Max looked down at where their hands were joined, the rose resting across Daniel’s lap. 

“What’s the rose for?” He asked, and Daniel looked down at it like he’d forgotten it was even there. 

“It’s for you, it erm,” Daniel bit his lip and took a deep breath, “It stands for eternal love. I know we’ve only basically been a thing for like a week and we’re not at that stage yet, but I really like you and I’d love to see where this went. But if you want to end things, just know that you’ll hold the most special spot in my heart, Max. You mean a lot to me.”

Max gently lifted the rose into his hand and untangled his fingers from Daniel. He gently caressed the petals, feeling their soft and fragile structure move beneath his fingers. Daniel watched him the entire time, watched how carefully Max treated the gift. 

“Thank you,” Max whispered. He leant forward and kissed Daniel’s cheek, the feeling of his stubble leaving a tingling dance on Max’s lips. 

“I am so incredibly, unbelievably sorry, Max. I can’t even begin to explain how angry I was at them. But fuck them, Max, fuck the lot of them. You mean more to me than they ever could.”

“You don’t need to keep apologising, it’s okay,” Max promised, cradling Daniel’s jaw in his head and wiping away the rogue tear that fell, “I just need time to get used to things, okay? You’re the first person that I ever even kissed, Daniel, I don’t know how to be in a relationship, let alone one with the boy of everyone’s dreams.”

“Not everyone’s,” Daniel corrected, “You’re the boy of my dreams.”

Max scoffed at the cheesiness and Daniel grinned. 

“Is this what I’m getting myself in for?”

Daniel’s dark eyes lit up, as though all the stars in the night sky were suddenly in his eyes as he registered what Max was implying. 

“Oh baby, I’m here for all the cheese, you’re going to hate it.”

“I already do,” Max promised, but he knew that coming from Daniel he’d love it. He’d love anything to do with Daniel. 

“I promise you, no matter what you’re my number 1, okay? If you feel anxious, just tell me. Even if it’s just a ‘Daniel, please leave me the fuck alone because I’m feeling very anxious right now and it’s freaking me out to be around you right now’, just tell me. You’re not going to scare me off or anything like that. I’m not here just to get into your pants, Max, I’m here because I want to be with you.”

Max shuffled around to sit beside Daniel, pressing himself into his side and wrapping his arms around Daniel’s torso. Daniel draped his arm over Max’s shoulder and turned his head to press a kiss to his crown. 

“I can’t promise you it’s going to be that easy,” Max slowly said, struggling to verbalise the thoughts he had, “Sometimes I don’t even realise it and then it hits all at once. But I’ll try, if that’s okay?”

“That’s all I can ask for, babe,” Daniel replied. 

“And I’m sorry that George told you to fuck off, I was just upset and he’d seen me run off earlier apparently.”

“I didn’t know you knew Lando and his mates,” Daniel said instead, shrugging off Max’s apology.

“I don’t. I know Alex, we work together in German a lot, and he invited me to go and hang out with them. They’re nice.”

“Lando is fucking insane, have you seen that stupid game he’s making?” Daniel laughed. 

“The milk game!” Max joined in the laughter, but quieter. He wanted to listen to Daniel laugh. He loved his laugh. 

“He’s actually insane, how he came up with that I have no idea. But they’re good lads, all three of them. I think George mainly said fuck off because he has beef with Charles over something or other, they seem like good friends for you.”

“Maybe,” Max agreed, “It’s early days. I don’t know, but I like them. I’d like to hang out with them again.”

“You should, they’re good. Lando gets anxious a lot, not to your degree, and he sometimes comes and sits with me, Dany and Jev on the yard when his boyfriend is with us. Maybe, you’d like to join us one day?” Daniel tentatively asked, “Obviously no obligation. I know you don’t like the cafeteria, but we’re out on front yard mostly, so you can join us sometimes if you like. Bring George and Alex as well if you wanted.”

“Jev and Dany aren’t the ones who were being…” Max said, waving his hand around as he failed to get the word he needed to ask basically if Jev and Dany were any of the perpetrators behind being dicks to Max. 

“Nah, they’re both good lads. I think you’ll like them. It’s most Jenson that causes the problems, but I don’t think I’ll see him much anymore. Not after what he did to you.”

Max nodded slowly, stopping Daniel from continuing to babble. 

“Sure, I’d like that then. Maybe not yet, though, if that’s okay? Kinda still need to just get used to whatever this is between us.”

“Yeah, of course,” Daniel told him, “We can go at your pace. I do have one question though.”

“Hit me with it,” Max said, tilting his head up from Daniel’s shoulder to look at him.

“Max -I don’t know your middle name- Räikkönen-Vettel, will you do me, Daniel Joseph Ricciardo, the honour of being my boyfriend?” Daniel asked, nervousness evident as he fiddled with Max’s fingers. 

“Emilian,” Max replied, and watched Daniel’s eyebrows furrow for a second before he laughed slightly and shook his head. 

“Max Emilian Räikkönen-Vettel, will you do me, Daniel Joseph Ricciardo, the honour of being my boyfriend?” Daniel repeated, and this time he wasn’t nervous.

“Yeah,” Max nodded, “Yeah I’d really like that.”

“Oh thank god, ‘cause otherwise this was going to be really awkward.”

Max laughed and leant up to kiss Daniel. His lips barely had chance to brush against Daniel’s when his bedroom door was flung open and something landing on the bed jostled them.

“SAVE ROOM FOR JESUS!” Charles screamed, scrambling back to his feet and bolting back out of Max’s bedroom with Max hot on his heels before Daniel had even registered what was happening. Max was stomping down the stairs and Charles barely made it into the front room before Max rugby tackled him, Charles landing with a thud on the sofa and all the wind knocking out of him. 

“Stop ruining things, you absolute shit!” Max shouted in mirth, as he tried to smother Charles under one of the pillows, straddling his waist with Charles attempting to push him off. 

Daniel stood in the doorway watching. He’d never seen this side of Max and he definitely loved it. A hand clapping against his shoulder shook Daniel and he looked up, his eyes going wide at the sight of Max’s father staring at him. 

“Come with us a second.” 

Daniel followed them into the kitchen, flicking his eyes back and forth between the two men. 

“You have to understand, if you hurt him, we won’t stop Valtteri and Charles. Max is quiet, and he’s sensitive. You can’t fuck around with his feelings. He can’t take it. So, you better be serious about this. You could do him some good, and if we find out you’ve done the exact opposite and we have to deal with days like the last twenty-four hours again, I will have you murdered. I know a lot of dangerous people aside from Charles and Valtteri, Daniel.”

“Yes, Sir. I have no intention of hurting him. I adore Max, I think he’s the best boy I’ve ever met. I want to fall in love with him. I see his name pop up on my phone or I see him smile in the corridor and it’s like every bad thing that has happened doesn’t matter, because I get to know what it’s like to feel yourself falling for the most amazing person on the planet. I am serious about him, Sirs.” Daniel told them, holding his head up and staring at them both, refusing to let them intimidate him. He tried to keep the grin off his face as he heard Charles and Max’s joint screaming, not sure who was winning the fight but he could hear Max laughing so it was probably okay.

“You get used to their fighting.” The other father eventually told him once they finished staring him down, the one Max had called Isä last week, Daniel was pretty sure. “You staying for dinner, kid?”

“If Max will let me, sure.” Daniel nodded. It felt like he’d passed the second test. 

Just Valtteri left. 

He hadn’t been threatened by him yet. And Daniel was definitely most scared of him. 

“Can you go and see if the twins have killed each other yet please, and if they haven’t, just say something and Max will probably roll of Charles and pay attention to you, he does that whenever someone even says your name.” Max’s dad said, and Daniel laughed even though the blush was high on his cheeks. 

And sure enough, when Daniel walked back in, the twins were still rolling around on the floor, trying to hit the other with a pillow and Daniel simply saying Max’s name had his boyfriend drop the pillow. 

God. 

His _boyfriend_. 

He got to call Max _Emilian_ Räikkönen-Vettel his boyfriend. And Daniel couldn’t believe how lucky he was to even think that sentence, let alone be able to say it out loud. 

Max rolled off Charles and came to sit beside Daniel, leaning against his side and happily catching the playstation controller Charles chucked him. Daniel looked between them as the twins went from trying to kill each other to just instantly settling into playing FIFA. 

But his confusion was short-lived as his brain stopped working when Max leant up and kissed Daniel as deeply as he dared in front of his family. Max ducked under Daniel’s arm, leaning against his chest and his fingers flying across the controller. Daniel scrolled his phone mostly whilst Max and Charles played, occasionally looking up and pressing distracting kisses just under Max’s ear, feeling the younger boy squirm against him every time. 

It was quiet, but Daniel loved it. Everything in his life was always so loud. Maybe Max was the perfect balance he needed. And the absolutely insane familial relationships that came along with him just made it all that much more better.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr available at 3303andmore
> 
> I hope you liked this, comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated!
> 
> Feedback is more than welcome and I am always up for any writing prompts that you wanna drop or even just tell me what you think, it all just makes me happy (now I'm learning to not feel guilty lol)


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